Gear

Sometimes it feels like all my gear starts wearing out at once. This was one of those years. I bought a few items and, after a summer of hard use, I’m ready to report.* Only one item didn’t make it through the year — the Gore-tex jacket I bought this spring didn’t survive my encounter […]
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On occasion we at the Outdoor Blog get gear to test. Not a lot of gear, but usually some smaller items. (Dear Mountain Hardware, feel free to send us your “Ghost” model polar sleeping bag. Ditto to you Trek bicycles, regarding the Speed Concept 9 Team Series.) While you can certainly get a good feel […]
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The Energizer LED Pop-Up Lantern is one of several new products from Energizer featuring what they call light fusion technology. We were offered any of the four products for review: a folding lantern, a tripod multi-function light, a handheld flashlight or the pop-up lantern. I asked for whichever was lightest (I meant weight-wise, but I’m […]
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Gimmick. The first thing I thought when I saw the Avex bottle. It features a push button drink dispenser. Unlike your average Nalgene bottle where you unscrew the cap to drink, with the Avex you push a button on the back of the bottle and then drink from the spout that opens at the top. […]
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Wildskins sent me some sample arm warmers earlier this year. It was too warm to use them this summer, but my guest reviewer, longtime friend Heather (who provided the art for our “When Animals Sort-of Attack” series), started using them this fall. Here’s her review: When my friend Gillian asked if I wanted to gear […]
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When Gillian gave me the gift of Winter Mountaineering School, I was very excited. This was something I had wanted to do for a while. That enthusiasm was tempered somewhat by the handbook of gear needed for the school. The section on gear is 18 pages long and very detailed. It contains phrases like: “DON’T […]
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We got a postcard in the mail a while ago from outdoor retailer REI, advertising Columbia’s new Omni-Heat line of clothing and accessories. Let me just say… review samples?? Please?? According to the Columbia website, the Omni-Heat line “helps maintain warmth and prevent heat loss through reflective, electric, and insulated technologies.” There are jackets, gloves, […]
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So at the end of May, I bought a new pair of boots — La Sportiva Thunder II GTX — to replace a pair that had been woefully inadequate. I’m happy to report the new boots are doing great comfort-wise, though after five months of hiking, they’re looking a little worse for wear. As far […]
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